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.   An F-35B begins its short takeoff from the USS America with an external weapons load.Lockheed Martin While North Korea  feverishly works to perfect intercontinental ballistic missile technology , the US and its allies are putting the finishing touches on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that will soon be patrolling the Pacific. Japan and South Korea, the US's principal allies the region, will both deploy over 100 F-35s by 2021,  according to Aviation Week . This follows the US choosing Japan as the site of its first-ever deployment of operational F-35Bs, which are  particularly well-suited  to combat in the Pacific region. The F-35, with its stealth characteristics and ability to improve the performance of the legacy jets it flies with, presents technical challenges that even the world's best air forces can't yet overcome. Against North Korea's rudimentary air force and air defenses, the F-35 would dominate and lead South Korean, Japanese, and US legacy fi...

U.S. Army soldiers install their missile defense system called Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, at a golf course in Seongju, South Korea,  The  second North Korean test launch  of an ICBM within four weeks should convince South Korea to allow deployment of a full THAAD anti-missile battery, the Pentagon said Monday. South Korea has permitted the U.S.  Army  to install two Terminal High Altitude Area Defense launchers on a former golf course south of Seoul, but South Korean President Moon Jae-in has delayed placement  of a full battery of six launchers pending an environmental study that has no timeline. The Pentagon maintained that North Korea’s test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile last Friday, following on a similar test launch July 4, had altered the security calculus on the peninsula and made the case for immediate deployment of the full THAAD battery. “A lot of people question the need for THAAD; they question the requ...

HMS Queen Elizabeth, one of the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers, on a sea trial this week. (Photo by the Press Association)  At a time of rising tensions between China and the US, a move likely to anger Beijing. The UK would increase in presence in the waters after it sent four combat aircraft for joint exercises with Japan in the region last year, British Defense Minister Michael Fallon said Thursday. "We hope to send a warship to region next year. We have not finalized exactly where that deployment will take place but we won't be constrained by China from sailing through the South China Sea," Fallon told Reuters. "We flew RAF Typhoons through the South China Sea last October and we will exercise that right whenever we next have the opportunity to do so, whenever we have ships or planes in the region,” he added. UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also said Thursday that Britain plans to sail two new aircraft carriers through contested Asian waters. “One...

Russian President Vladimir Putin.Adam Berry/Getty Images A  New York Times investigation  found that Russia renewed 6 Trump trademarks in 2016 The trademarks were approved for renewal while Russia was actively meddling in the US election Trump has repeatedly said he has no more business dealings with Russia, but intellectual property law experts told The Times that unused trademarks can hold significant value The report comes as the Trump campaign is under multiple active investigations for possible collusion with Russia during the 2016 election Last year, the Russian government approved the renewals of six trademarks for President Donald Trump that were about to expire,  according to a New York Times investigation  on Sunday. Four of those renewals were officially registered by Russia on Election Day. The Times found that the Kremlin approved applications for the trademarks' renewal beginning in April 2016 and ending in December of that year, according to record...

US President Donald Trump and Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman (R) shake hands in the State Dining Room before lunch at the White House in Washington, DC, on March 14, 2017. (Photo by AFP) President Donald Trump has criticized Saudi Arabia for not paying its fair share in return for the US security umbrella. "Frankly, Saudi Arabia has not treated us fairly, because we are losing a tremendous amount of money in defending Saudi Arabia,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters news agency on Wednesday. Trump’s criticism of Saudi Arabia was a return to his 2016 election campaign rhetoric where he questioned the protective nature of US relations with the oil-rich kingdom. "We take care of Saudi Arabia. Nobody’s going to mess with Saudi Arabia because we’re watching them," Trump said during a rally in Wisconsin a year ago. “They’re not paying us a fair price. We’re losing our shirt.” The billionaire even suggested then that Washington sh...

Transatlantic bond 'strongest bulwark' against instability: Mattis Munich, Germany The bond between Europe and America is the "strongest bulwark" against instability and violence, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday as he tried to calm jittery allies seeking clarity from Donald Trump's White House. International partners remain deeply troubled after Trump's campaign rhetoric questioned long-established alliances, and they worry about a growing scandal over possible ties between some of Trump's staff and Moscow. "The transatlantic bond remains our strongest bulwark against instability and violence," Mattis told the Munich Security Conference. "I am confident that we will strengthen our partnerships, confronting those who choose to attack innocent people or our democratic processes and freedoms." Mattis, a retired four-star Marine general who spent years working with international partners, has often taken a divergent tone fr...

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Bonn, February 16, 2017. Source: Flickr / MFA Russia U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Washington is ready to seek new common ground for cooperation with Moscow, Reuters reported "As we search for new common ground we expect Russia to honor its commitment to the Minsk agreements and work to de-escalate violence in Ukraine," Tillerson said after meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. In his turn, Lavrov noted, that they "have discussed the situation in bilateral relations, which were seriously undermined by the Obama administration." "Tillerson has confirmed readiness to overcome this period expressed by President Trump during the phone talks with President Putin," Lavrov added. The first meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary  of State Res Tillerson was held in the German city of Bonn on the sidelines of th...

China first, Russia second by Michael Klare If there’s a single consistent aspect to Pres. Donald Trump’s strategic vision, it’s that the simple principle of “America First” should always govern U.S. foreign policy, with this country’s vital interests placed above those of all others. “We will always put America’s interests first,” he  declared  in his victory speech in the early hours of Nov. 9, 2016. “From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first, America first,” he  insisted in his inaugural address on Jan. 20, 2017. Since then, however, everything he’s done in the international arena has, intentionally or not, placed America’s interests behind those of its arch-rivals, China and Russia. So to be accurate, his guiding policy formula should really be relabeled America Third. Given 19 months of bravado public rhetoric, there was no way to imagine a Trumpian presidency that would favor America’s leading competitors. Throughout the campaign, he...

British Prime Minister Theresa May (L) and US President Donald Trump meet in the Oval Office of the White House on January 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP) The British government says an invitation for US President Donald Trump's state visit is still in place, despite an outpouring of public and political protest. More than 1.8 million Britons have signed an online  petition  urging the government to withdraw the invitation that Prime Minister Theresa May extended to Trump while she was visiting Washington last month. The petition, which is expected to be put to debate in Parliament, called for Trump to be allowed to enter the UK but not be granted an official state visit because of fears it would cause embarrassment to Queen Elizabeth. In a statement sent to petition signatories, the Foreign Office said the government "recognized the strong views ... but does not support this petition." It also said that the US president should be granted the “full courte...

US President Donald Trump is expected to retreat from his campaign promise to rip up a nuclear deal signed by Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, including the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany in 2015, says an analyst. “Despite President Trump’s campaign promises in which he called the Iran nuclear deal as the ‘worse deal’, we don’t think the White House will be killing the nuclear deal,” Roozbeh Aliabadi, managing partner of the Global Growth Advisors from New York, told Press TV on Tuesday. European states, Russia and China are behind the nuclear accord called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the analyst said adding, “it is highly unlikely that we will see killing of the deal.” “It is reasonable for all of us to assume that the nuclear deal will stay in place,” the analyst noted. He said the fact that Trump in his first three weeks in office has not yet discussed the JCPOA with the ...

Israeli Ambassador to Cairo David Govrin Israel's internal spy agency, Shin Bet, says the regime has temporarily withdrawn its ambassador to Egypt, citing security concerns in the North African country. "Due to security considerations the return of the foreign ministry embassy staff to Cairo has been restricted," the agency said in a statement released on Tuesday without elaborating on when the pull-out took place. However, Britain's  Daily Telegraph  said Israel's ambassador to Cairo, David Govrin, had been pulled out of the diplomatic mission at the end of last year. According to the report, the envoy is currently working from Jerusalem al-Quds while Tel Aviv hopes that he will be able to return to his post soon. Egypt has been wracked by a series of terror attacks. A Daesh-affiliated militant group operating in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula has recently stepped up its assaults, taking advantage of the chaos created following the ouster of the country’s...

PressTv This file photo taken on January 04, 2017 shows Michael Flynn, then National Security Adviser designate, arriving at Trump Tower for meetings with US President-elect Donald Trump in New York. The White House announced February 13, 2017 that Michael Flynn has resigned as President Donald Trump's national security adviser, amid escalating controversy over his contacts with Moscow. (Photo by AFP) The latest controversy of the new US administration has been the resignation of Michael Flynn as the US national security adviser over his secret contacts with Russia. In his resignation letter, Flynn admitted to phone conversations with Moscow's ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, prior to Donald Trump’s inauguration as president. The conversations apparently revolved around the lifting of the Obama administration’s sanctions against Moscow.    In an interview with Press TV, Jim W. Dean, the managing editor of  Veterans Today , described Flynn’s resignat...